Cheshire (UK) to Sydney - 1963

This is from Teenagers Weekly, a supplement to Australian Women's Weekly. 14th August 1963

Boys Go Scooting across the world

• Australia is only a motor-scooter ride away from England, decided Peter Davison, 23, and Graham Ardern, 22, of Cheshire. And, in adventure-strewn 10,000 mile journey, they proved it.

Both on one scooter, the boys travelled through Europe, the Middle East, India and Ceylon, and made the final hop to Sydney by sea.
The overland safari took four and a half months - "We weren't trying to break a record" - and cost them £55stg each, plus the cost of the scooter.
"We arrived in Sydney with 32/6," said Peter. "And a packet of soup," added Graham.
School friends since the age of 11, both boys always had a yearn to travel. And last year, when Graham was half way through his studies for an architectural degree, and Peter thoroughly entrenched in commercial training in the textile business, they realized it was time for them to fulfill their ambition.
Otherwise they would become too involved in their careers to break away.
"Even though the English winter was approaching, and we had hardly any money, we decided we couldn't risk waiting for the summer and moe money, in case we changed our minds," said Peter.
It took them three months to prepare for the trip. There were visas to get, road routes to study and learn almost by heart, and the latest camping equipment to investigate and obtain.
"Actually, the camping suppliers were very good to us," said Graham, "and gave us a cut price on most of our gear. Probably because they felt sorry for us to be going all that way on a motor-scooter."
By the beginning of October, when winter was just setting in, the boys were ready, set, and off hitch-hiking through Europe to Milan, in Italy, to buy the motor-scooter.

Learning to ride

The scooter, complete with accessories (Spare Tyre, etc) cost them £110 - exactly half the money they had set out from England with. They christened it "Sheila," after a girl in England for whom both boys had  great deal of affection.
Before they could set off on their scooter they had to learn to ride it well. This was no mean feat, as loaded with the two boys and all their equipment, the scooter was extremely heavy to steer and the balance was difficult, because they had to ride so slowly owing to the weight.
"To begin with, we fell off quite a  lot and were wobbling all over the road," said Peter. "But we weren't too conspicuous in Italy, as everyone there is used to scooter-riders."
Among their 200lb. of luggage the boys took a light French tent, two sleeping bags'  petrol stove and billies to cook with, a first aid kit, tough wearing jeans, pajamas, thick jumpers, and a "smart" set of clothes.
In addition, they took as many spare parts for the scooter as they could load on, battery-run electric razors, and dozens of packets of dehydrated English soup and coffee.

Terrible roads

Their first taste of adventure came in Yugoslavia.
"We were ordered to stop by some police," Peter said. "They brandished guns, but we didn't dare stop because our visas had expired the day before.
"So we just drove on, and luckily they did not follow us."
Turkey provided more danger and thrills in the form of:

• Terrible roads - "At one stage we had to plough through 100 miles of mud, falling off constantly."
• Hostile natives - "Through some villages, dogs with spiked collars were set on us."
• Extreme cold - "Our water would freeze, so we used to sleep next to the water tank so that it would be thawed in the morning. We used to sleep in our pajamas, jeans, and pullovers and have the petrol stove going half the night."

Before long both boys had become expert cooks. Their staple diet was a steaming dish of packet soup mixed with local pasta.
"There were times when we thought we were mad to attempt the trip," said Graham. "But usually by next day something good or interesting would turn up.
"One of the worst parts was going through the great salt desert between Tehran, in Iran, and Pakistan. We seemed to skirt it for days on end. Also we had to drink salty water there."
Good things they remember are the hot bath they had in Tehran and the wonderful hospitality of the people in Pakistan and India.
"We were befriended by an Indian Igh Court judge," said Peter. "A very interesting chap, he had been responsible for the hanging of 350 criminals.
"He handed us on to his legal colleagues everywhere we went through India."
In India they had bad luck with the motor-scooter. "Her engine cracks din half," Graham said, "but luckily we managed to hitch a ride - with the scooter and all on top of an Indian lorry - for 750 miles.
"it was murder."
Graham and Peter had planned to get jobs in India to help their dwindling finances, but discovered on arrival there that the prospect has hopeless, owing to unemployment and the low wages.
"We're rather ashamed to admit that our parents came to the rescue when we were in Colombo and sent us the money for our fares to Australia," said Peter.
However, once they had arrived in Sydney they were back on their financial feet again. Two hours after they landed, Peter had got a job as a waiter in a city hotel and had rented a cheap flat in Coogee.
"Now that it's all over," said Graham, "we can honestly say that the trip was worth it. We had uncomfortable times, but we didn't ever have a monotonous day."
"And we're fitter now than we were when we left England," added Peter.
​"Any two chaps could do the same trip, but we wouldn't advise girls to do it."